Major League Baseball has suspended a former Cleveland Guardians prospect after investigators uncovered an elaborate scheme to hide his true age and identity, per ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.
The player known as David Severino had agreed to a $2.8 million bonus with the club in December 2025, a pre-deal that was supposed to become official when the 2029 international signing period opened.
At the time, the Guardians believed they were locking up a 13- or 14-year-old switch-hitting infielder. They later learned he was two years older than advertised.
His real name is Daury David Severino Damaso, born April 2, 2010. In 2023, according to sources who spoke with ESPN, trainer Francisco Nieves created a new identity for him with the approval of the player’s parents. The fabricated persona of “David Severino Damaso” was presented as a younger brother. A
fake birth certificate listed a December 2011 birth date. Medical files and school records were altered to match. Two years later, a fraudulent death certificate was filed claiming Daury had died of a respiratory illness in May 2012.
A tombstone was even placed in a cemetery in La Romana to complete the story that the older boy no longer existed.
The Guardians terminated the agreement in May after the age discrepancy surfaced. MLB then completed its own investigation and issued the suspension.
The team itself faced no discipline, a sign the league viewed Cleveland as a victim of the deception rather than a participant. Because of his actual birth year, Severino would have been eligible for the 2027 international class. The penalty now pushes his first chance to sign back another year, to 2028.
Scouts who saw him work out had already grown suspicious. One executive told ESPN that the first thought upon watching the prospect was that he could not possibly be the age listed.
Another simply noted that the face looked older. Those instincts proved correct. Age and identity fraud have long been problems in the Dominican amateur market, where clubs evaluate children years before they can officially sign and bonuses can reach life-changing sums.
The last collective bargaining agreement included a commitment to an international draft, but the two sides never settled on the details, so the current system remains in place. Cases like this one only add pressure for tighter verification and, eventually, a more structured process.
For now the episode stands as a cautionary tale. A $2.8 million future that once looked promising has been replaced by a delayed start and a reputation that will follow the player into whatever market he eventually enters.
